Having recently seen a delightful production of The Fantasticks, I was glad when Netflix delivered to my door Try to Remember: The Fantasticks, an hour-long documentary about the phenomenal 42-year New York run of the show. The documentary was made in 2002, just as the show was closing.
I didn't realize that the original version of this show was produced in such a small theater on such a postage stamp-sized stage. The 50 seat theater where I recently saw the show actually had a larger playing area than the New York version. Perhaps scale is part of the charm of this show. Certainly the close connection between audience and performer must be part of the reason of the show's longevity. How often in a New York theater can you be within 20 feet of the stage for a musical?
This documentary offers a lot of talking heads interviews, and rightfully lets the show's creators Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones to do a lot of the talking. It also includes interviews with former cast members of the New York production, although I was disappointed that the only commentary by the late Jerry Orbach, who originated the role of El Gallo, was done at some sort of reception rather than in a traditional interview setting. While much is made of the fact that several famous people, including Liza Minnelli and Elliot Gould, have performed in productions of The Fantasticks, Orbach is the only actor familiar to most audiences who contributes to the documentary.
There is a lot of tape of the final New York performance; it is a challenge to feel the charm of the show from this, however, due to the poor technical aspects of this footage.
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